Rail joint



OCt. 4, 1949. W SJOSTRAND 2,483,942

RAIL JOINT Filed 001'.. 24, 1945 WILHELMINA SJosTlRAN D wow,

Patented Oct. 4, 1949 STATES d 'Y' 2,483,94a Y.

JoIN'rf Y Willemina-Sngerinnen.raul, Minn... Application October Y24, 1946, SeriaflrNo: 7053450 the fact that.' my` reilvjoint isl composedo-f twov connector elements,y 'both of which are identicall innconsti'uetion. In ViewI o1V thefactthatrbothfnf the elements are identical/.in- -construction the relfjnintcan :be economical-1y made.I Furthermorejn View oithisconstruotion i-tfis not neces- 'to.maintain in :stock-pairs of connecting yele-l ments,` aswoulfd be'necessairy 'lifrtl'ie two'elem'ents were different in construction.

A= feature off the present invention.l resides in the' provision of a. railf joinftinc-luding tweele-l ments,A .eaclsifot which is; provided .a lengt-- tudinallr groove `orv channel therein` of -arsize and shape to accommodate the base and Webofarail'. Inrvieworthe fact tirait 'therailisl-engagediwitnin such .a :channeli deini-telyV preventsrany lateral:y inox/ement vofitlie 'rail inittieevent a-clampingfboltf shouldsbecome loosened.

lAreatu-re of the presentA inventionflies--in-the provision of a connector including-twoma-in -e1e^- mentsv which are similar in construction and which are arranged in overlapping relationship. Each connectorincludes a 'channeled element designedetoengage about opposite sides fof a; :railand an elongated arm which extendsfbeyonditiie joint@ between the rails. The ,projecting end of each arm is connected to the basepthe 'complementary raiijpint section so as-:toprovide a rmac'cmp! neutral-between rail ends-,

Avn addedreature of the presenty invention resides the: provision cina1 raisedgplatformportion on each section of my rail joint on which the extremity of the rail may rest. The base of each rail is thus contacted by two spaced base engaging elements so as to equally support the end of each rail to prevent the same from sinking or includes ahorizontally Y of the; base ,flangesagging; vAtl the sam'e'Lti-me' -aportion ofther'iase of thefrail is Vspaced 'fr-om the portionslof Y'thejwiint underlying the `rail so as Lto. per-milt 'the 'rail-base' to properly4 fit against. the-connecting `membersl andtto com-pensate for expansion ande/contraationr of the connecting members. AThese and other'fobgiects and novel' features of myv invention will`v belmore-c'learlly-A andffuliy set forth inv thefollowingspecication andclaims;v Ln the drawings rforminga part-of myjspecif-L- cation: 7 Figure lvisfatop plia-nfview of a-railjoint, the

maior portion offlth'e rails being bruinen` away te theconnecting Iniciati show .tney constructi'on of bers. Figurezsis a side elevationaLview-of the rail joint shown Figure 1.V

Figure I3 across sectional? v ViewA th-rough the ra-Iat-oneendof the 'railjo'intv Tnerail' joint: A iis 1 designed fori-use vin vJael-dingv lengths of-rai-llB-in abuttingVV relationship. rlheraili j ointAisccmprised of two identical elements,

each Lofi-which may be -identiedfin general bythe-k letter C. In ViewV of the factfthattheelementsl f C are. identical,l the parts -thereoff will beiden-tiied by. the `same numerals. l Each ofl the-unitsC is provided with a rail -en'-Vr gaging end l0 of a type best illustrated -in Figure BI ofthe draw-ings.- The rail engaging endf-IO which is designed to underlie thebase iange` |24 of therail Bland toV contact this rail base. -Up-` wafrdiyv .extending *1i-anges I3 are provided at each side of Athe Ybase l lito extend over idle-side'edg-esA 42; these iianges I-3 merginginto inwardly converging ange portions I4 which oyerlie theupper. surface-:of the base flange i2. The converging flange portions rail 1B; The vupper extremities head. I9. In other words, the flange portions v*l5 areshaped ,attheir upper eXtremi-tiesto t the shapefor. .curvature of the junction between the;

rail web I6 and the rail head I9.

As will be noted from Figure 3 of the drawings, the railA engaging portion I0 is thus formed which extends on opposite sides of the rail and embraces a portion of the rail in such a way as extending 'base portion 1|-- IllV terminate inv parallelV vertically: extending .ange portionsv |55- w-bich extend-on opposite :sides of the web I6 of the Il are curved tofit the curvature on the under-surface of the raili-4 to hold the rail from lateral movement. Apertures 20 are provided in alignment through the ropposed flange portions I5 and a similar aperture is provided in the rail B so as to accommodate a clamping bolt 2|. The clamping bolt 2| extends through the opposed flanged portions I5 of the rail engaging end I0 and also through the web I6 of the rail B so as to clamp these elements together. A nut 22 is provided on the bolt 2| to permit the elements to be held in clamped relation.

A web 23 projects downwardly from the base portion II of the rail engaging element |0 and terminates in a transversely extending flange 24 having an upwardly projectingflip 25 on its extremity. The web 2 3 forms the anchor end of the arm 26 which projects from the rail engaging end I0 past the butt joint between the rail ends aperture 21 therethrough while the free end 29 4 the connecting elements are moved until the apertures therethrough are in proper alignment. The bolts 2| are put into place to connect each rail embracing end IIl to its respective rail and the arms 26 are placed at the proper elevation by means of the wedges 39. The bolts 3| are then inserted through the aligned apertures in the web ends 23 and the free ends 29 of the two arms to hold the rail ends in proper relationship. The connecting members C hold the rails from movement longitudinally by engagement between adjacent ties and hold the individual rails from vertical or lateral movement while engaged.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of myrail joint and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that this is onli B. The web 23 is provided with an elongated of each arm 26 is provided with a cooperable aperture 30 therethrough. The apertures 21 and 30 are designed to accommodate clamping Ibolts 3| provided with suitable clamping nuts 32 by means 4- of which the free end of one arm 26 may be attached to the web end 23 of the other arm.

Each of Vthe arms 26 is provided with an upwardly projecting portion 33 which extends upwardly into engagement with the base I2 of the rail B. In other Words, the projections 33 form a support for the rail sections B near the extremities thereof. The upwardly extending projection on one of the connecting members C engages the rail on one side of the joint and the projection 33 of the other connecting member C engages the other rail B on the opposite side of the butt joint. The base of each rail section B is thus engaged at two spaced points and the connectingmembers are spaced from the rail base intermediate these points.

As best illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings the arms 23 areprovided with a downwardly curved lower edge 34| which increases the depth of each armat a point midway between the ends thereof. Also as illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings each arm 26 is provided with a bead orv flange 3,5 along this lowered edge to increase the thickness of the arms at this point and to accordingly increase the strength thereof.

Transversely extending reinforcing ribs 3B are provided beneath each web 23 so as to strengthen the flange 24 beneath the free end of the cooperable arm 25.

As best noted in vFigures 2 and 3 of the drawings the flange 24 of each membery C is provided with an inclined upper surface 31. This inclined upper surface 31 is lower at one end than at the other so as to provide an inclined longitudinal surface. A wedge 39 is positioned between each inclined surface 31 and the lower edge Ml of the free end of the cooperable arm 26 so as to hold' the free end of each arm in proper relation to the rail engaging end of the cooperable connecting member. These wedges 39 at each end of the rail joint A provide a means of insuring engagement of each of the connecting members Cwith its respective rail.

In attaching the connecting elements C to the rails B, a rail engaging end l0 is slidably engaged on a rail and on each side of the butt joint and illustrative thereof and that obvious changes may be made Within the scope of the following claims without 'departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1.IA.rai1 joint including a pair of identical members, each having a rail embracing end attached to and spaced from a rail end. including abase portion designed to extend beneath the rail and a pair of integral ilanges designed to extend over the base of the rail on each side thereof, and against the web of therail, clamping means extending through the opposed flanges and through the portion of the rail web therebetween to clamp said anges against the rail, one such rail embracing end being positioned near the end of each of the railsV being joined, an arm integral with the bottom portion of each of the rail embracing ends to extend longitudinally of the rail and beneath the level thereof and across the rail end, the free end of one arm being arranged adjacent the end of the other arm attached to the rail embracing end, and clamping means extending through the ends of the arms for holding the arms in side by siderelation.

2.The structure dened in claim 1 and including a, platform portion on each of said arms at a point spaced from the integral rail engaging end engaging one 4rail designed to contact the undersurface of the 4other rail. v

3. The structure defined in claim 1 and including an integral flange on the end of the arm attached to the rail embracing end designed to extend beneath the free end of the other arm to support said arm. l

4; The structure dened in claim 1 and including a tapered flange on the end of each arm attached to the rail embracing end designed to extend beneath the free endof the other arm, and wedge-means engaged between the free end of the other arm and said flange.

WILHELMINA SJOSTRAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTSi Reifurth et al July 18, 1933 

